Issue 9, Volume 6 November 10, 2005     Thought for the Week True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind. -- Mahatma Gandhi   Mark Your Calendars for TNT-7!  December 3, 2005 Saturday, December 3, 2005 8:00am - 3:00pm Calcasieu Parish Technology Center and Reynaud Middle School 600 Shattuck St., Lake Charles, Louisiana Teaching aNd Technology7 Institute Sponsored by: Calcasieu Parish School System Technology Department Calcasieu Association of Educators Region V LACUE Region V TLTC The Calcasieu Parish School Board Technology Department in partnership with the Region V Teaching, Learning and Technology Center, the Region V LACUE, and the Calcasieu Association of Educators is again sponsoring the fall Teaching and Technology Institute – TNT7. The TNT6 Institute held last year drew over 700 participants from throughout Region V and received resounding accolades from all attendees. This year promises to be an even larger and more dynamic conference with sessions targeting the professional development needs of every job classification. Visit our conference web site at www.cpsb.org/tnt to submit a proposal to present at the conference or register to attend. At the low registration rate of $25.00 per person (this includes lunch and snacks) this conference presents the best bargain around! Please consider submitting a proposal at our online site and encourage your colleagues to submit a proposal to share the exciting gains you have made in the educational technology arena. Each presenter that is accepted will receive a "special prize" and have their name placed twice in the doorprize drawing for the computer. This is in appreciation of your willingness to share your expertise with the Region V educational community. If you have any questions about submitting a proposal or anything about TNT please feel free to email Sheryl Abshire TNT Institute & Program Coordinator. Mark your calendar now for December 3, 2005 from 8 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. for TNT7 and prepare to participate in a premiere technology learning experience! I-TEC Model Classroom Teachers Announced The Calcasieu Parish Technology Department is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2005 -2006 I-TEC Model Classroom teacher grants. The purpose of the I-TEC Classroom Program (Implementing a Technology-Enriched Curriculum) is to recognize exemplary teaching in K-12 schools which model the effective use of technology resources to support standards-based learning. Special thanks to all of the outstanding teachers who applied to be part of this project. Congratulations to the following teachers: 2005 – 2006 I-TEC Model Classroom Teachers • Shirlene Clark - Prien Lake Elementary • Lisa Dietz - Dolby Elementary • Kristen Istre - Cooley Elementary • Tevya O-Quain - St. John Elementary • Meg Reed - Moss Bluff Elementary • Kimmy Smith - Bell City High Thanksgiving Celebration! Throughout history many cultures have given thanks for a bountiful harvest. They might differ in their forms and presentations; but, their spirit -- setting aside a date to reflect on life's blessings -- remains the same. Catch a glimpse of the spectra of colors and shades that tinge the thankful celebrations from around the world! http://www.theholidayspot.com/thanksgiving/round_the_world.htm  Find more Thanksgiving ideas in Best of the Web under Holiday Ideas! http://www.cpsb.org/resources/bestofweb/sites.asp CPSB Email Application Clarification The CPSB Tech Support Center has changed the Email Application to reflect the new criterion required to obtain an email account.  All users applying for *NEW* email accounts must complete the correct form; we are still receiving old applications for new email accounts, which must be returned for the needed information. Therefore, email applicants/accounts are delayed until the form is completed correctly. The path to get to the new form is www.cpsb.org, click on CPSB Intranet, and then email application.  Below is a direct link to the form for you to view.  http://www.cpsb.org/resources/email/application.pdf   For users who simply want to reset the password, contact the Tech Support Center via email from another user; OR, phone 491-1690 to have a password reset form faxed directly to you. Wikibooks to Offer Free eTexts    The Wikimedia Foundation--the group known best for the open-source, freely licensed encyclopedia project Wikipedia, which invites users to write, edit, and expand upon encyclopedia entries to create a collaborative, free-to-use online information resource--has begun a similar initiative for textbooks.  Read more on the topic at http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5932. Excel Quick Formatting Tip Excel allows you to format your worksheets with an almost endless assortment of fonts, colors, borders, and patterns. You probably have created spreadsheets where you spent more time on formatting than you did on the basic data input and formulas. Fortunately, Excel has a cool option when you want a great looking reports but don't have time to mess with all that formatting. And it only takes four clicks. 1. Select a cell within the table you want to format 2. From the Format menu select AutoFormat... 3. Choose one of the predefined formats. 4. Click OK (If you don't like the result, click Edit, Undo (or CTRL+Z and try again) The Options button in the AutoFormat dialog box allows you to choose any combination of Number, Font, Alignment, Borders, Patterns or Width/Height formats from that particular AutoFormat. AutoFormat may not always be the answer to your formatting needs, especially with more complicated tables. But for basic data tables in Excel, AutoFormat can give you some pretty cool results in a flash. Web Rangers Check out this great interactive site for elementary students who may want to learn more about the National Park Service. Of course, all kids will love this one.  Not only is it interactive, but it offers fun facts about things found in a national park.  http://www.nps.gov/webrangers/arrowhead.html  Word Tip Most everyone knows about Word Count and how to use the spelling and grammar tools. But, have you ever needed to refer to specific line numbers in a document?  Well... it can be done!!!  As it turns out, Word does have the ability to display line numbers -- line numbers that aren’t really embedded in the document itself. 1. Go to the File menu and click Page Setup. 2. On the Layout tab, click Line Numbers. 3. A dialog box will appear that looks like this graphic to the right. 4. You can then set the numbering options for the document. 5. A reference number will be placed at the start of each line. As you can see, you can also restart each section or each page with line numbering. Online Inspiration/Kidspiration Resources This site has a collection of Inspiration and Kidspiration examples made by the Education Department of The University of Sioux Falls.  Be sure to check out the other resources on this page - there are many! Pre-K -12 The URL: http://www.thecoo.edu/~apeter/Tech%20in%20ed.htm#INSPIRAT Outlook Tip Automatically add holidays to your Outlook Calendar by using these simple steps:   1. On the Tools menu, click Options. 2. Click Calendar Options (under the Preferences tab). 3. Then click Add Holidays. 4. Select United States. Once you click OK, Outlook automatically puts in all of the recognized holidays.  PBS Teacher Source Here is yet another great resource for teachers of all subjects and levels.  Teacher Source is a sort of classroom lesson planner, although somewhat centered around PBS productions.  The site is very easy to navigate and designed in a way to make your research quick and painless.   Using the general categories Arts and Literature, Health and Fitness, Mathematics, Science and Technology, and Social Studies, the PBS Teacher Source allows you to browse through long lists of exercise and lesson plan ideas for various age groups. Under Science and Technology for elementary school, for instance, there are lesson plans to simulate tall tree forests with brooms, to understand the behavior of dogs, and to measure the wing dimensions of the Madagascar Fish Eagle from a computer screen. Check out more exciting ideas at http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/. Cyberbee for Technology Integration Do you need lesson ideas for technology-integration using the internet? As teachers, there is never enough or rarely any extra time to find great ideas on our own to integrate technology into the classroom.  This site offers examples of how the Web can be used as a tool in all content areas.  Find curriculum ideas, research tools, treasure hunts, web projects and lots more -- all compiled here for your benefit: http://www.cyberbee.com/intclass.html  You can even subscribe to find out when updates are posted.  Thanksgiving The story of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag begins before the Thanksgiving feast. Find out the story of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag as you go back to the year of the first Thanksgiving.  At this site students can view a picture timeline, the voyage of the Mayflower, take an interactive tour of the Mayflower, and take the Thanksgiving Cyber-challenge. They can also relive the Pilgrims' first year in America and learn how the Wampanoag helped the pilgrims survive in the New World. Plymouth Plantation provides a wide variety of teacher resources and in-classroom educational experiences for students throughout the nation. http://teacher.scholastic.com/thanksgiving/ Graphic Organizer Ideas Are you tired of the same old graphic organizers? Try these new and creative ideas for students to use in the classroom. This site has it all covered for any number of graphic organizers for classroom use. Try an Inverted Triangle, a Garden Gate, an Ice Cream Cone, a sandwich, or how about the Idea Wheel? http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ OfficeScan Pattern Update The latest OfficeScan pattern as of 11-09-2005 is pattern 2.935.00.  Please check your pattern by placing your cursor over the OfficeScan icon and viewing the pop-up window that appears.  If your pattern is significantly lower from this one (A HIGHER PATTERN NUMBER IS OK), Please email tech.help@cpsb.org regarding this or any other question you have regarding OfficeScan. Best on the Net!! -- Visit this site for hundreds of websites for teachers! We would love to hear from you about the best educational sites you have found on the web. Please submit, via email, the sites you feel merit inclusion. Send to tech.connect@cpsb.org. Please include the URL and a short sentence about the site.  Featured Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in Calcasieu Parish) Printable Notes of Praise http://www.alphabet-soup.net/ttools/praisenotes.html   It's Thanksgiving time just around the corner, so don't forget to thank your students for all their hard work. Find some cute printable praise notes here to download, print out, and send home with your preschoolers. Corn Cob Painting http://www.theideabox.com/Corn_Cob_Printed_Placemat.html Create placemats and abstract works of art with corn cobs, simply dipping them in the paint and rolling them over the paper according to the directions here. Turkey Art http://www.alphabet-soup.net/hol/turkeyart.html How about making some fine-feathered turkeys for a Thanksgiving project with your preschool students, using clothespins for feathers? Or try making the Pilgrim houses here by creative use of milk cartons. Turkey magnets and hand turkeys are also included. An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Tech Connect. For Technical Support:  tech.help@cpsb.org Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Teacher Link  Best on the Net Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive